VinFast inaugurate factory in India as it enters a competitive auto market

New Delhi: VinFast on Monday have inaugurated a $500 million electric vehicle in Tamil Nadu, as part of their planned $2 billion investment in the country and spreading their expansion across Asia. The factory in Thoothukudi will initially have 50,000 electric vehicles annually, and will have a bandwidth of making 1,50,000 units. Being in a port region, VinFast, of course, is hopeful that it can be an essential export point.

The VF7 officially became the first car to roll out of the plant. As a location, it is the centre of the Indian auto industry and has good manufacturing capability with skilled workers and amazing infrastructure.

The company has increased their focus on the Asian market after not making a big impact in the US and Europe. It got a big boost in the previous year after a $200 million EV assembly plant in Indonesia, where the company hass estimated it will be producing 50,000 cars per year. It has also found traction in Thailand and the Philippines. VinFast sold close to 97,000 vehicles in 2024, three times more than the year before, though only 10 per cent were outside Vietnam.

With Asian markets in its sights, India’s factory will be a hub for exports to South Asian countries like Nepal and Sri Lanka, as well as African and Middle Eastern countries. 

As a product VinFast does have a market as well as strong competition from the very Indian brands. The soon to be coming VF6 will be competing in the Mahindra BE 6 segment coming at the near same price. Mahindra offers fast charging and comes with the option of both 59 kWh 79 kWh battery pack while the VF6 uses 59.6 kWh battery. Mahindra offers Level 2+ ADAS. Mahindra’s interior has been class act no doubt upon it. For your money you get AR headup display, panoramic vision and amazing connectivity.

In this range, the Tata Curvv also is available and the two Indian brands have been head on the market. It comes with the ADAS Level 2 as well along with multiple driving mdoes like the Mahindra. The EV in Tata has been quite a premium segment with Curvv.ev coming with  12.3 inches Cinematic Touchscreen by HARMAN and even gets 10.25 inches digital cluster. Plus it gets Vehicle to Vehicle charger as well. 

The VF7 which is the second car in VinFast portfolio and will be competing with the Mahindra’s upcoming BE 9. It is likely to get a battery pack option between 60 kWh and 80 kWh.

However, the features and all are good points, where VinFast will have to compete is the brand trust that both Tata and Mahindra have gained over the years and have been able to serve the Indian customers and roads quite well. With the EV sector slowly growing in India and being the third-largest auto market in the world, VinFast have a market, but it needs to survive.